This invention relates to agitators for the dispersion of a fluid in a liquid.
Disc turbine agitators with a plurality of axially aligned plane paddle blades are known for the dispersion of sparged gases as small bubbles in liquids in tanks and the concomitant mixing of the tank contents. In use, a vortex low pressure zone forms behind each rotating blade of the turbine, and with the gas flow rates frequently encountered in industry, the gas tends to collect and be held as a cavity in this zone; this disadvantageously reduces dispersion and mixing efficiency and can cause turbine blade erosion. The same problem would be found with a sparged liquid less dense than the tank liquid.